I miss these opportunities to get long-winded about football. Thanks for the thread Bullseye!

A thing that I have learned about football strategy is that there are two things that Defense's hate; Space and Time. In regards to time, it's the lack of time specifically.

Way way wayyyy back in the day, 1947 to be exact, Coach Eddie Robinson of Grambling adopted the Wing T formation and went on to win 408 games over his career. What the Wing T did was it took the traditional T as used by George Halas and it moved two players. It moved one of the Halfbacks up towards the Line of Scrimmage in a "wing" position and it split out one of the Ends. It can be argued that the development of a Wing Player was the greatest offensive improvement in the history of the game. It added more yards per play than any other scheme change. But don't forget that Split End. His new spot was critical as well, and he wasn't moved out to help the Passing game, he was moved out to help the Run. 

Now look at what the two different formations does to a given Defense. First, let's start with a 'T' and how teams would align.

--------------------F
--C - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - C
- - - - - - - - W - - - M - - - $ 
----E - - - T - - - N - - - T - - - - E
-------5 - T - G - C - G - T - 6
--------------------1
---
---
-----------3 - - - - - - - - 4
--------------------2

This is the proverbial "eight in the box" configuration that brings the Strong Side Safety ($) down close to the LoS in order to help out with the Tight End (6). Now, let's move our pieces around to the Wing T:

---5 - - - - T - G - C - G - T - 6
----------------------1 - - - - - - - - 4
---
---
-----------3 
----------------------2


Think about how a Defense would align to that. First off, the C would want to either move out and go head up on '5' or at the least back up and take an inside shade on him in order to stop the Slant. Next, how is that Defensive End going to account for where '4' is playing? He has to keep plays inside of him so he will slide out to make it harder for 4 to reach him and pin him inside.

Now, there's one more trick that Robinson sometimes used; it's called the 'Nasty' split. I have no idea why it's called that, but if you slide your TE out one gap further, but still keep him in a 3 point stance, it's referred to as a Nasty Split. So now let's look at how the Defense will align.

----------------------F
--C - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - C
- - - - - - - - - - W - - - M - - - - - - $ 
-----------E - T - - N - - - T - - - - - - - E

---5 - - - - T - G - C - G - T - - - 6
----------------------1 - - - - - - - - - - 4
---
---
-----------3 
----------------------2

The Defense will want to widen itself out in order to keep the Offense in contain. The Defense is reacting to the formation and thereby creating one thing that it hates, Space! Now, these are rudimentary shifts and changes that have been around for decades, but the overlying concept is the same. If you want to run, widen the formation. The Defense will have to widen itself out in order to keep the offense from out-flanking it. When it does this, run inside of it.

So while more, better talent is always always always a great idea, there are some other ways that can help as well. Is the Defense going to put eight in the box? Then make that box as wide as you can.

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